Anna Raccoon Archives

Post navigation

New Deal – Great Deal!

The Anna Raccoon Archives

by Anna Raccoon on August 24, 2009

In the parallel universe inhabited by Nu-Labour, where all Labour voters are automatically ‘victims’ of something or someone and all Conservative voters automatically ‘villains’ – it is axiomatic that the solution to any given problem should not involve a ‘victim’ doing anything to help themselves, should increase the tax burden on any ‘villain’ unwise enough to have swollen the capitalist ranks of the employed, and preferably involve the enrichment of a labour minister somewhere and a chance to star in a reality TV programme. If you can throw in a feckless ‘child’ under the care of social services made good, and now lording it on the estate of a former Conservative voter (shades of Mugabe’s land grab dictum here) then you have really hit the jackpot.

Thus it is that the solution to the ‘problem’ of 2.5million unemployed concealing some 1 million long term young unemployed who have neither intention nor ability when it comes to getting a job is NOT to stop their benefits and assume they will find themselves some mindless and probably short term employment in preference to starving in the gutter – that would be cruel and heartless to a victim – but to employ someone to find it for them – at the tax payers expense (it being a known fact that you cannot be sufficiently cruel or heartless to a tax payer).

The tax payer was kind enough to sponsor young Emma Harrison (and her Social Worker) on an Outward Bound course to Thornbridge Hall in Derbyshire. We shall probably never know what prompted the tax payer to think that this largess was essential to young Emma’s future, but we do know that it turned into a seemingly never ending burden.

The Sunday Times Rich list now place Emma’s fortune at £35 million – and she is back in Thornbridge Hall as Chatelaine, and the tax payer is still paying for it.

She owns a company called A4e, which takes healthy sums of money from the tax payer to teach the long term unemployed to smarten themselves up for an interview at ‘Poundland’ and claims as a ‘success’ that ‘Poundland’ offer them two weeks unpaid work in order to see whether they might be suitable for future employment. No really, I’m not making this up. This woman has made a £55 million personal fortune by persuading the government to give her the tax payers hard earned pennies to do something that a simple cut in benefits would achieve in minutes. Her company is turning over £100m and has 1,850 employees.

The government require claimants to attend Emma’s courses for 13 weeks – or lose their benefits. See? It’s cruel to threaten to take someones benefit away for not trying to get a job from some filthy capitalist – but its perfectly OK to threaten to take away their benefits if they refuse to consume tax payers pennies on a course run by a NU-Labour zealot – that’s the sort of topsy-turvy thinking you get when you have David Blunkett MP as one of your advisers on £30,000 a year.

There have been complaints about Emma’s company in the past, not investing in things like chairs for ‘clients’ to sit on, or computers to enable them to check out the job centre, apparently these problems were because the government was handing out short term contracts for her services and she never knew when her next tax payer funded hand-out would appear, but from this October she has secured better terms – at a price.

Around £1,500 per client…….but the government is making 60% of that conditional on her finding the client a job……………try reading that again until it sinks right in.

We are talking about young, long term unemployed people – who cost the tax payer approximately £30,000 a year each (including all associated benefits) who cannot be persuaded to find a job by the job centre, in itself tax payer funded, being handed over to a private company run by a multi millionaire, who is given £1,500 per client to find them a job – and only £900 of that is conditional on her actually doing that?

A4e is currently under investigation after discrepancies emerged in “confirmation of employment” forms submitted by the company. Forms meant for employers agreeing to take on workers had been fraudulently filled in. In some cases, signatures were falsified.

Steve Webb, the Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesman, said the government should review which companies were allowed to bid for contracts working with some of the most vulnerable people in society.

“The taxpayer is over a barrel to a small number of companies cashing in on the recession. It beggars belief that companies subject to investigation should be potentially in line for lucrative contracts dealing with a particularly vulnerable group,” he said.

It also beggars belief that this is the company currently cashing in on the craze for reality TV – and is the employer of ‘Hayley’ the loud mouthed star of last weeks ‘Benefit Busters’. At the end of the episode 10 women were picked and agreed to be filmed.

Two ‘dropped out’. Sadly for A4e, only 4 of the women secured employment – and only 3 women remained in the jobs.

It looks as though I am not the only person offended by this – there is a web site http://newdealscandal.wordpress.com devoted to following the goings on of this company. Worth bookmarking and supporting. Apparently Emma’s company managed to close down their original site.

Edited to add: Demetrius pointed me in the direction of this excellent article by Burning Our Money

Do read it.

{33 comments }

Teflon DonFebruary 8, 2010 at 00:47

Flexible New Deal: I doubt you can be sanctioned by the provider if you have a genuine appointment for doctor, court appearance etc, and can produce proof if asked for. And in the case of a court appearance, either as a witness or juror, you can continue to receive JSA for up to 8 weeks

679,820 New Deal Sanctions since 2000. It is predicted to increase rapidly as Flexible New Deal providers can now give out variable and fixed sanctions.

In fact, it is a contractual condition that they MUST determine that every customer is entitled to claim reporting those who they doubt to the confidential National Benefit Fraud hotline. They are also advised to sanction people if a doubt arises in their availability for work or if they aren’t actively seeking employment.

You can be sanctioned for declining their appointment requests even if you have a valid reason such as court, caring responsibilities, doctor or dentist appointment etc.

There is one thing that would put a stop to all this and cut out all the jobsworths at the same time – Negative Income Tax.

Set the amount at something like 10,000 and the reduction rate at 50% and you wipe out the benefits system in one go. Those that won’t work get enough to exist on – those that are willing to work can make up to 20k before they begin to pay positive tax.

The only problem is that no political party has the balls to implement it – they all require a benefit underclass to beat the rest of us with.

As a side issue – with a NIT system the social workers can get back to the job they are supposed to do – look after those that are vulnerable and not listen to whining about not getting this or that benefit. There is only one payment – be it weekly or monthly – and when that is spent it’s gone – no more unless they earn it.

It also has another good issue – it simplifies at one stroke the tag system – everyone knows what they owe or are owed.

I could go on but this is not my blog and the subject might not be what Anna wants to follow.

Gloria SmuddAugust 25, 2009 at 22:05

It’s the puff-adder sexing that’s got me considering a career change…

SabotAugust 25, 2009 at 20:59

Too true, Anna. But you have to be really desperate to make Andouillettes, and even more desperate to eat it.

Sorry everyone, I know it ain’t that easy, or at least, I suppose it isn’t. I have no formal qualifications, but have always managed to get a job, maybe because I had three children to support and couldn’t afford to be fussy.

My youngest son got a degree in Acupuncture which cost him approximately

Gloria SmuddAugust 25, 2009 at 19:24

I caught bits of the TV programme in question and I remember thinking a) Mrs Flipchart-Lady’s trainees were a very reluctant bunch b) None of them is a stranger to chips c) All that for a job at Poundland?

boflAugust 25, 2009 at 16:12

it is very easy to knock people that are out of work…….

i probably used to earn more than any of you on here as i was a Bond Trader many years ago…………but that was then so i am not living in the past……….

there are many reasons why people are turned down.my mole at Southend council summed it up.he told me that he would only employ steady eddies that would sit there for 3 years and not get bored!

he also didn’t want to employ anyone with brains fearing that he might lose his nice job with a high salary and pension+other perks!

if i go along to tescos they have a similar attitude…….they dont want anyone that might rock the boat… if i want to better myself and get a degree in say acupuncture i will have to borrow

BlinkAugust 25, 2009 at 15:49

Sabot

your comment maybe okay for some

but it’s not okay for many more.

apparently, jobs just don’t grow on trees anymore

and

SabotAugust 25, 2009 at 14:57

It’s really surprising how No Benefits can concentrate the mind into getting a job.

YMCA Training is solely funded by the Government (DWP and LSC) and receive

Mike SpilliganAugust 25, 2009 at 14:34

I’m astonished. I know things are bad, but looking at the whole picture here it’s one of ineptitude, coercion, distortion, corruption and fraud. Anna Harrison can be quite calm about her

BlinkAugust 25, 2009 at 13:35

sorry about the many typographical errors – i’m so anxious i canttypeproperly

BlinkAugust 25, 2009 at 13:33

It’s not just employment services and the civil service though. The malaise and incredulous bureaucracy that we suffer is throughout the public sector.

I’ve just returned from another out-patient’s visit. Yes, the orthopaedic consultant turned up; he was not on holiday but did suggest that a little niggle with his knee this morning was comparable to my not being able to walk properly for the last 9 months, and was running only 25 minutes late.

He then proceded to question my my degree of anxiety and wondered if I should not taking medication for it. This was, of course, because he was in total denial concerning his and the NHS total lacxk of care and consideration for me for the last 9 months. He was personalising my complaints about his ‘service provision including bad attitude’ onto me being anxious. The bastard! But this is what they do, so unemployment is the individuals fault – it is they who are inadequate. My being anry at poor service is my fault for being too anxious.

The bureaucracy supported by their definitions of US go along way to the creation of an US and THEM state where the state reckons it holds all the power. It’s a tool used to limit resources – think helicopters – it’s everywhere.

The criminals have taken over the asylum.

boflAugust 25, 2009 at 12:15

new deal- i think that there is a Southend in Suffolk as well as Essex.

i am in Essex-

i believe that the ymca are so useless that they have actually lost the contract now- however other training schemes are running in the town.

i would guess that there are between 500-1000 people on these schemes.multiply that by the amount of centres and we find a large number of hidden jobless.ymca also have a centre in harlow .

they are really crap-although it isn’t a nice place to work. the staff were mainly very polite and helpful,except for one lady who seemed to have a bust-up with the punters on a weekly basis.

there are only a finite number of jobs-yet employers seem to be allergic to anyone that is un-employed! ffs!!!!!!!!!!!

there could be any number of reasons why someone is out of work. i worked full time for 24 years -but now it seems that i am labelled as being an undesirable? with out-moded thinking the situation will never change…….

and the powers that tell us what to do and steal our money when we are working are just as bad………ie in Southend i did my 3 month sentence at Baryta House which is about 100 metres from the civic centre…i applied for many council jobs ( as a client i had to apply for anything suitable) yet i didn’t get one reply.of course many others did the same………i didn’t hear of anyone from the ymca getting an interview………..yet the council could have taken on lots of people for work trials.it wouldn’t cost them a penny and there were lots of intelligent older people on my course-but then that would be far too sensible!!!!!

I thought the point here was to highlight how a system, crap one as it stands, can be manipulated by people for their own gain.

I too have been out of work in times gone by. I was between jobs many years ago and voluntarily went on a course that looked as if it had some substance. On one of the training sessions there was my self and an older woman in the group. A ‘tutor’ marched swiftly in the room, picked up a pen and started to write on a board.

She wrote 10 High Street or something.

We sat there as she asked ‘what she was doing?’

We looked at each other and said rather slowly, ‘writing a letter…?’

just a guess mind :0) She said nothing else, didn’t introduce herself nor ask who we were.

She said ‘Yes, correct’ at which point I walked out, went immediately to the convenor and said I would not be back! These types of organisation are running similar type rubbish all over the country and getting taxpayers money for it. It is truly pathetic and yes, it does hide the unemployed – their existence and their lives. All in our name. What these people didn’t know was that I had been writing letters for 30/40 years and had a degree and professional qualifications in 3 distinct areas including TRAINING!!!!!!!!!!!

Blink, Many years ago I was off work through ill health for longer than nine months. When I returned I was told that due to the length of time I had to ‘undergo retraining’. Fair enough I thought. The trains didn’t start running from Wales early enough to deposit me at the High Court for 10am, I had to travel (at my own expense) the night before. I had to have a hotel (at my own expense) the night before. I arrived at 10am for my appointment with the re-trainer. He wasn’t there. Eventually he appeared at 12pm; he had had the ‘morning off to go to Lord’s’ (the civil service understands these things, cricket, its important) I had been sitting in the foyer for two hours. He decided that we might as well ‘break for lunch and reconvene at 2pm’. Who was I too argue? We did. In a room specially set aside for my ‘re-training’, with a whiteboard, chairs tables, pencils and paper all laid out. ‘There’s not a lot to go through’ he said, ‘not many changes; we have some new forms, a little different from the old ones’. A scanned copy of the new form lit up the whilte board and he pointed with some sort of lazer effort at the pertinent points. ‘Here’ (where it said ‘NAME’!!!!!) ‘you need to put the patient’s name so that we can see it through the plastic wallet’…………. I stared at that whiteboard in total amazement, quite apart from the fact that they thought that someone they were paying

boflAugust 25, 2009 at 00:30

ps why the ‘moderation’?????

‘new deal’ is correct in that these schemes are set up to hide the real unemployment numbers- no surprise there from mcmental and the other hoons!

there will never be enough jobs-think about it-either technology or ‘offshoring’ is killing the old style economy each day…the oil is running out and the kids are as thick as shit..(lots of them at the ymca)……new thinking is needed but when the people at the top are only in politics for their own glorification then nothing will change…… personally i would go for the decapitation option……..

boflAugust 25, 2009 at 00:21

it’s easy to have a dig at the un-employed …….i am un-employed due to my company closing. i got no pay off………

i was forced to go on a 13 week course ran by the ymca (yes really) in Southend.it was fucking awful! the building was in a bad condition.the rooms were filthy,as were the computers-no wonder everyone got colds and flu.one day somebody shat on the floor in the gents and then smeared it around the loo and the stair well!

i applied for 200 jobs- i didn’t get one reply!

there are 400 applicantss for every position.

i am in my forties.

all of the older people wanted to work……. but we are not wanted……there are jobs where companies want to pay f/a and there are jobs such as in the nhs where one needs a qualification.

the job centre is a fucking joke.in Southend each ‘client’ only gets 4 minutes with an ‘advisor’………i went along to my 3 monthly interview.a rather stupid woman told me to get some training with the promise of a job at the end of it!!!!!!!! (i do already have a professional qualification in finance)……..

i took her advice and applied for a place at a uni in London. i have been offered a place but the government has really fucking stupid rules…….i will lose my jsa and housing benefit ! i dont mind paying for my degree but i estimate that it will cost me

1) Human Rights Act 1998 only applies to public bodies (i.e. Jobcentre Plus) and not like A4e etc. (The Jobcentre wouldn’t have gotten away with it)

2) Hides real unemployment count… New Dealers are classified as “in training” although the 13 week New Deal VSO/ETF etc are classified as “employment programmes” and NOT “training programmes”. I am not sure but logic may suggest possibly clients are actually refered as “employed” and “in training” only applies to FTET/Basic Skills etc.

3) Company data and information (except consolidated accounts and official forms) is private. Government has to deal with FoI Act requests. Private companies don’t.

4) Lack of transparency and accountability – the Jobcentre pours the money in, the provider spends it how they like. This includes resources (or lack of). Jobcentre refuses to use the powers they have under the contract.

It is funny you mentioned about the new jobs only being at these so-called training companies. I also said something similar on my blog somewhere. I just find it all a large scam.

The problem is if you ever attend such a course you will get an Hayley Taylor like person who looks down at you like scum etc. for claiming

marthaAugust 24, 2009 at 21:10

This practice is nothing new. I worked, in the 90s, for a similar company doing exactly the same stuff. The client would normally attend a mandatory short course on pain of losing benefits, at the end of week they had to have made a plan and signed up for something, either Training for work, a jobclub or community action. I worked in the Training for Work area.We (my company) were paid lump sums for a *client* completing an NVQ or getting a job. If you could find any reason whatsover to class the person disabled (quite minor ailments would suffice) the payment was doubled. The course was for up to 6 months or they got a job and they could be sent into placements with an employer for the full 6 months (though that wasn’t really profitable for the training company) and all they got was their benefit +

Joe PublicAugust 24, 2009 at 20:18

Sorry – I don’t believe it!

Is this a draft for a new work of Fiction?

Has it been released 7+bit months early (or 4-3/4 months late) as an April Fool Joke?